Power name: Steampunk
Explination: (4 tokens)
Start with 2 airhsip tokens, At the end of your turn pick up 1 airship for every mine you own (max. 2) airships can be used to attack regions anywhere on the map once per turn. They must then stay in the region you conquered.
Airships provide +1 defence.
When in decline airships still provide +1 defence with an additional +1 gold per turn. (Can be conquered and is lost)

Automatons (7/14) - Da Vinci style clockwork robot-y things. During troop redeployment, place a victory coin on the turn counter for each turn the Automatons have been your active race (one on the first turn, two on the second, three on the third, etc). When they go into decline, collect those coins. The idea being they ramp up and have a slightly above average number of guys, but the amount of bonus coins they're going to get is visible to all and paints them as a bigger target (go into decline on second turn earns 3 coins, fourth turn earns 6, etc).

Gnolls (10/16) - Gnolls are savage warmongers who despise civilization-- gnolls must abandon all of their regions each turn. This is offset by the large number of gnoll tokens.

Harpies (5/14) - During troop redeployment, you can place nest tokens in any regions you occupy (there are three nest tokens in the box). If you still control those regions at the end of your next troop redeploy, replace the nest tokens with an extra harpy each (from tray, from hand if none in tray). You can place nests the same turn they hatch.

Centaurs (4/10) - Centaurs are restless. For every two regions you conquer, you may return a centaur from the board to your hand (usable immediately, to keep up the roaming conquest).

Minotaurs (9/15) - Minotaurs are savage. Each turn, you must attack an active race.

Slimes - (5/15) - Whenever a slime dies, you may put an extra slime from tray in any unoccupied region adjacent to it. Power persists in decline. (Seems really strong, but at the same time seems easy enough to play around. Am really curious on reaction to this one).

Knights (5/11) - comes with a castle token. Place the castle on your first conquest. Castle grants +1 defense (even in decline). Knights get -1 to conquer all spaces adjacent to the castle.

Frogmen (6/12) - Spaces one away from adjacent are considered adjacent for the sake of conquest.

==Powers==

Stealthy (4) - applies Underground's fording the river mechanics to enemy territory. you can place a token in an adjacent enemy territory to pass through it, but during redeployment have to empty out of enemy territories.

Colonial (4) - At the end of the turn, collect 3 bonus coins if you control at least 3 different terrain types.

Highlander (5) - at the end of the turn, collect 3 bonus coins if all of your territories are of the same terrain type.

Vagrant (4) - at the end of any turn you abandoned at least 2 regions, collect 2 extra coins at the end of the turn.

Stalwart (3) - You may roll the reinforcement die on defense.

Vigilant (4) - You may redeploy defeated troops as soon as they are returned to your hand instead of at the end of the enemy's conquest.

Paranoid (5) - at the end of the turn collect one bonus coin for each territory you control with only one token in it.

Monk (5) - Monks are peaceful and only believe in fighting for self defense. You need +1 to conquer occupied regions, but get +1 defense.

Gladiator (5) - (the one I'm really not sure about). You do not collect coins from controlling territories. Whenever you kill an enemy token, get 2 coins.

Chivalrous (4) - When you select this power, each other player gets a princess token to place during their next troop redeployment. Once placed a princess cannot be moved. When you conquer a region with a princess, discard it and gain 1 victory coin and 1 extra race token from tray.

Scavenger (3) - for every two occupied regions you conquer, get a token (don't know what to call it-- supply? scrap? something). You can discard these during attacks only to count as a race token while attacking. Only 5 tokens in box, hang on to unspent ones.

Automatons (7/14) - Da Vinci style clockwork robot-y things. During troop redeployment, place a victory coin on the turn counter for each turn the Automatons have been your active race (one on the first turn, two on the second, three on the third, etc). When they go into decline, collect those coins. The idea being they ramp up and have a slightly above average number of guys, but the amount of bonus coins they're going to get is visible to all and paints them as a bigger target (go into decline on second turn earns 3 coins, fourth turn earns 6, etc).

Gnolls (10/16) - Gnolls are savage warmongers who despise civilization-- gnolls must abandon all of their regions each turn. This is offset by the large number of gnoll tokens.

Harpies (5/14) - During troop redeployment, you can place nest tokens in any regions you occupy (there are three nest tokens in the box). If you still control those regions at the end of your next troop redeploy, replace the nest tokens with an extra harpy each (from tray, from hand if none in tray). You can place nests the same turn they hatch.

Centaurs (4/10) - Centaurs are restless. For every two regions you conquer, you may return a centaur from the board to your hand (usable immediately, to keep up the roaming conquest).

Minotaurs (9/15) - Minotaurs are savage. Each turn, you must attack an active race.

Slimes - (5/15) - Whenever a slime dies, you may put an extra slime from tray in any unoccupied region adjacent to it. Power persists in decline. (Seems really strong, but at the same time seems easy enough to play around. Am really curious on reaction to this one).

Knights (5/11) - comes with a castle token. Place the castle on your first conquest. Castle grants +1 defense (even in decline). Knights get -1 to conquer all spaces adjacent to the castle.

Frogmen (6/12) - Spaces one away from adjacent are considered adjacent for the sake of conquest.

==Powers==

Stealthy (4) - applies Underground's fording the river mechanics to enemy territory. you can place a token in an adjacent enemy territory to pass through it, but during redeployment have to empty out of enemy territories.

Colonial (4) - At the end of the turn, collect 3 bonus coins if you control at least 3 different terrain types.

Highlander (5) - at the end of the turn, collect 3 bonus coins if all of your territories are of the same terrain type.

Vagrant (4) - at the end of any turn you abandoned at least 2 regions, collect 2 extra coins at the end of the turn.

Stalwart (3) - You may roll the reinforcement die on defense.

Vigilant (4) - You may redeploy defeated troops as soon as they are returned to your hand instead of at the end of the enemy's conquest.

Paranoid (5) - at the end of the turn collect one bonus coin for each territory you control with only one token in it.

Monk (5) - Monks are peaceful and only believe in fighting for self defense. You need +1 to conquer occupied regions, but get +1 defense.

Gladiator (5) - (the one I'm really not sure about). You do not collect coins from controlling territories. Whenever you kill an enemy token, get 2 coins.

Chivalrous (4) - When you select this power, each other player gets a princess token to place during their next troop redeployment. Once placed a princess cannot be moved. When you conquer a region with a princess, discard it and gain 1 victory coin and 1 extra race token from tray.

Scavenger (3) - for every two occupied regions you conquer, get a token (don't know what to call it-- supply? scrap? something). You can discard these during attacks only to count as a race token while attacking. Only 5 tokens in box, hang on to unspent ones.

Apologies if any of these are similar to existing suggestions!

Your races that do not have a means of getting bonus tokens should have their maximum as exactly 5 more than their banner number.

The automatons seem interesting, but they are so unique that I have NO idea on the token number.

Gnolls seem fun (basically a forced gypsy strategy with no coin bonus), but I'm once again not sure about the token count.

The harpies are interesting, but I think it should be at the start of your turn just because.

The centaurs have a rather odd power, and should probably have at least a 5 if not a 6.

No clue on the minotaurs. If I used them, many shouts of DEATH TO YOU ALLLL!!! and SMAAAAASH!!! would be heard.

If the idea of the slimes is splitting, then they should actually get a gain by making two new guys.

Knights should be at LEAST 6/11, the cultists from underground have a better power by a long shot. (Their castle is invincible and moveable.)

Frogmen should be a 7/12. And be in underground. Because flying exists.

Stealthy should be a 7/12 race. And also be able to do this with ANY region.

Colonial seems... I don't know. Highlander I don't like, sorry.

Vagrant is a weak gypsy power.

Make stalwart a 5, or 4 if it stays in decline.

Vigilant I'm not sure about. Should be a 7 race.

Paranoid isn't a thematic name, but is not a bad power.

Monk might be a little underpowered. Change it to just active or decline races, and it's PERFECT.

I'm not sure about gladiator either.

Chivalrous and scavenger are unique. I'm not good at rating unique powers.

This is just constructive criticism. My thoughts are just one guy's opinion.

Automatons (7/14) - Da Vinci style clockwork robot-y things. During troop redeployment, place a victory coin on the turn counter for each turn the Automatons have been your active race (one on the first turn, two on the second, three on the third, etc). When they go into decline, collect those coins. The idea being they ramp up and have a slightly above average number of guys, but the amount of bonus coins they're going to get is visible to all and paints them as a bigger target (go into decline on second turn earns 3 coins, fourth turn earns 6, etc).

Gnolls (10/16) - Gnolls are savage warmongers who despise civilization-- gnolls must abandon all of their regions each turn. This is offset by the large number of gnoll tokens.

Harpies (5/14) - During troop redeployment, you can place nest tokens in any regions you occupy (there are three nest tokens in the box). If you still control those regions at the end of your next troop redeploy, replace the nest tokens with an extra harpy each (from tray, from hand if none in tray). You can place nests the same turn they hatch.

Centaurs (4/10) - Centaurs are restless. For every two regions you conquer, you may return a centaur from the board to your hand (usable immediately, to keep up the roaming conquest).

Minotaurs (9/15) - Minotaurs are savage. Each turn, you must attack an active race.

Slimes - (5/15) - Whenever a slime dies, you may put an extra slime from tray in any unoccupied region adjacent to it. Power persists in decline. (Seems really strong, but at the same time seems easy enough to play around. Am really curious on reaction to this one).

Knights (5/11) - comes with a castle token. Place the castle on your first conquest. Castle grants +1 defense (even in decline). Knights get -1 to conquer all spaces adjacent to the castle.

Frogmen (6/12) - Spaces one away from adjacent are considered adjacent for the sake of conquest.

==Powers==

Stealthy (4) - applies Underground's fording the river mechanics to enemy territory. you can place a token in an adjacent enemy territory to pass through it, but during redeployment have to empty out of enemy territories.

Colonial (4) - At the end of the turn, collect 3 bonus coins if you control at least 3 different terrain types.

Highlander (5) - at the end of the turn, collect 3 bonus coins if all of your territories are of the same terrain type.

Vagrant (4) - at the end of any turn you abandoned at least 2 regions, collect 2 extra coins at the end of the turn.

Stalwart (3) - You may roll the reinforcement die on defense.

Vigilant (4) - You may redeploy defeated troops as soon as they are returned to your hand instead of at the end of the enemy's conquest.

Paranoid (5) - at the end of the turn collect one bonus coin for each territory you control with only one token in it.

Monk (5) - Monks are peaceful and only believe in fighting for self defense. You need +1 to conquer occupied regions, but get +1 defense.

Gladiator (5) - (the one I'm really not sure about). You do not collect coins from controlling territories. Whenever you kill an enemy token, get 2 coins.

Chivalrous (4) - When you select this power, each other player gets a princess token to place during their next troop redeployment. Once placed a princess cannot be moved. When you conquer a region with a princess, discard it and gain 1 victory coin and 1 extra race token from tray.

Scavenger (3) - for every two occupied regions you conquer, get a token (don't know what to call it-- supply? scrap? something). You can discard these during attacks only to count as a race token while attacking. Only 5 tokens in box, hang on to unspent ones.

Apologies if any of these are similar to existing suggestions!

Automatons : nice, though a little too powerful to me. They'd have enough tokens to last three turns, which would be like +2 per turn. Compare with Alchemist (4), which is the same. They should be 5.

Gnolls : I like the idea but this one is too extreme. I imagined the Magicians that are 9 and have to abandon a region during redeployment. Maybe your Gnolls should abandon just 2, not all of them ?

Harpies : can the nests be reused ? Otherwise they're too weak...

Centaurs : good one ! Maybe they're a tad undernumbered... 5 or 6 ?

Minotaurs : this one sets a problem. If there is not an active race on the board, they cannot attack. That is OK is they're already on the map, but if there isn't ? Plus, imagine there is, but they're a little far away, and attacking it would depend on the reinforcement die, so there is a possibility they can't attack it, so all the previous attacks were illegitim. So there should be set an additionnal rule which says they cannot attack if attacking the active race would depend on the die. But not a bad idea after all !

Slimes : kinda the same idea I had with Imps (6) but only while active, so it seems balanced.

Knights : they're like the Cultists from SWU, aren't they ? So the Castle should be moved each turn, otherwise it's too weak. Or, it cannot be moved but the attacks around it are worth -2 tokens.

Frogmen : you should add an advantage when the Frogmen skip regions this way, otherwise it's a bit weak, and Flying Frogmen would be redundant. What about -1 for attack ? But then they shouldn't be more than 5 (compare to Ogres from SWU). Or once/twice per turn, one attack can be done this way for -2. Then they should get a 6.

Colonial : good one ! But the condition should be 4 different kinds of regions. Otherwise it's a little too easy. I'm just not sure about the name, some might say it's controversial regarding some countries' background...

Highlander : why not. I would give them 4 but for no more than 2 different kinds of regions occupied (the contrary of Colonial). Really nice ideas you've got there !

Vigilant : got the same idea before but I realised it's a bit weak, because useless when you're widespread, and few races can afford to attack solidly defended regions.

Paranoid : too extreme, one might just decide to leave all his/her regions but one with only one token in it and get a lot of VPs that the upcoming loss of regions for being poorly defended could not compensate. And what about Paranoid Kobolds ? It can't work.

Monk : why not...

Gladiator : really not sure about this one either. Nice idea though... but a little too extreme.

Chivalrous : hilarious ^^ Set some conditions like it is forbidden to immune the region the Princess is in. Plus it's useless for the Elves as they have the whole amount of tokens and can't get new ones.

RacesTreants: (4/20) Treants may make their First Conquest in any Forest region. As you Ready your Troops at the start of your turn, take an additional Treant token from the storage tray for each Forest Region you occupy.

Spectres: (5/10) When an enemy conquers a Region you occupy, put a Haunted token in that Region until it is abandoned or you re-conquer it. At the end of each opponent's turn, you get 1 bonus Victory coin for every Haunted region he or she occupies, even when your Spectres are in decline.

PowersArmed: (2) If an enemy conquers one or more Regions you occupy, they must discard 1 Race token back into the storage tray during Troop Redeployment. Elf tokens are returned to the hand and may not be redeployed that turn.

Reckless: (5) You may conquer any Region with only 2 Race tokens. If you do, discard 1 of those tokens back into the storage tray immediately after the conquest. If Kobolds use this power, at end of turn they must redeploy their troops so that each Region still has 2 tokens, even if it means abandoning another Region.

RacesTreants: (3/20) As you Ready your Troops at the start of your turn, take an additional Treant token from the storage tray for each Forest Region you occupy.

Spectres: (5/10) When an enemy conquers a Region you occupy, put a Haunted token in that Region until it is abandoned or you re-conquer it. At the end of each opponent's turn, you get 1 bonus Victory coin for every Haunted region he or she occupies, even when your Spectres are in decline.

PowersArmed: (2) If an enemy conquers one or more Regions you occupy, they must discard 1 Race token back into the storage tray during Troop Redeployment. Elf tokens are returned to the hand and may not be redeployed that turn.

Reckless: (5) You may conquer any Region with only 2 Race tokens. If you do, discard 1 of those tokens back into the storage tray immediately after the conquest.

haven't read too many of the posts but I thought of the
Frost Special power
At the end of your conquests you may place the frost token on an active race adjacent to one of your regions of your active race. All the tokens on the 'frozen region' cannot be used for conquests or redeployment as long as the frost token remains on that region.

Frost would give you five tokens so you can have Frost giants, frost trolls ect

This would really sabotage your opponents troops because you have frozen many of them! Although this would be useless to far spreading races like pixies...

Basically, scarecrows have a spell under which they come to life when a region containing a magic source is conquered by them. BUT the region cannot be one that is next to the edge of the board.

Scarecrows grow stronger when they occupy regions where there is a magic source. When this happens, all tokens placed on the board (except one token per occupied region) go to the region with the magic source and are piled up on one stack, making this region very difficult to defeat.

The thing is that Scarecrows that are not alive (all of them except for one) get "stuck" on their regions, so they cannot be taken at the beginning of one&#180;s turn to be used for conquer. It&#180;s a small sacrifice for the sake of the "magic one". Plus, when the "magic one" is on the magic region, the rest of the scarecrows are invicible, making the main goal for other players to defeat the "magic scarecrow". The magic scarecrow gets as many coins as tokens in the pile there are per turn. The bad side is that the player has no tokens to play immediately after reaching the magic source, so it&#180;s good but only for one turn, otherwise it gets boring (besides other players may defeat the "magic scarecrow")

I think 4/9 would be a good number of tokens (4 being the number on the race banner and 9 the total number of tokens in the tray).

NEREAS:

Nereas are savage female children who have managed to train tigers and ride them through the wilderness.

On the picture of the NEREAS tokens, you can see the picture of a NEREA (child aged more or less 5 yrs old) riding a tiger. On the other side,

On the other side of their tokens, there are either a tiger or a Nerea. When the race goes into decline, there will be either a tiger or a Nerea on the region. It&#180;s completely random. A tiger means three coins per region, and a Nerea means no coins. Tokens should be shuffled before being put.

CHAMELEONMEN:

Chameleonmen can "hide" into the background. They can be disguised on the board, either as lost tribes or as mountains. Also, they can hide as pots of gold (from "Be not afraid" expansion).

Chameleonmen must be placed during the first round. They should be placed on top of the pile (as the sixth choice for players), so that the one who wants it has to pay five coins to get it. The reasons:

- Chameleonmen depend on mountains and lost tribes to work well.

How they work:

I think it would also be nice if they could hide as other races, but that would mean adding more chameleon tokens (probably too many): one per possible race (around 30). That&#180;s why it should be placed for the first round, when the board is full of lost tribe tokens.

When a player picks the chameleonmen, he takes twice the number that is displayed on the special power banner (for example, if the special power is "historians", which has a five on it, the player would pick 10 chameleonmen. When doing so, all the other players would have to close their eyes, and the player with the chameleonmen would substitute his "chameleonmountains" for real mountains and his "chameleonlosttribes" for real lost tribes. On following turns, if another player attacks these lost tribes or conquers these mountains, they would fall prey to the hidden chameleon, thus losing a coin to the player with the chameleonmen.

MERMAIDS:

If a sea or lake region is unoccupied, mermaids can enter them and, from there, drag MASCULINE races into the waters to drown them. This means, if there are tokens placed on adjacent regions to the mentioned lake/sea region, one of the tokens is lost and put back into the tray (except for elves). Once per turn and per enemy, they can do this. Feminine races (Amazons, Priestesses, White Ladies, Gypsies and Nereas) are immune to this race&#180;s power.

The combination seafarer-mermaid is possible, but not advisable, as it the seafarer power would not add anything to the mermaid race.

A seafaring race can attack mermaids on water regions, and vice versa.

So I'm a little late to the party...still new to the game. Small World...LOVE the game...and love the balance of it...which is why I'm weary introducing a race of my own without some experienced feedback.

Here's the race...would love your thoughts.

RACEWAR ELEPHANTS(6/11)
ABILITY
You may conquer any territory with only one race token. After your first turn, WAR ELEPHANTS must enter decline.

So I'm a little late to the party...still new to the game. Small World...LOVE the game...and love the balance of it...which is why I'm weary introducing a race of my own without some experienced feedback.

Here's the race...would love your thoughts.

RACEWAR ELEPHANTS(6/11)
ABILITY
You may conquer any territory with only one race token. After your first turn, WAR ELEPHANTS must enter decline.

Nice thought, but there are some problems :
- Small World is supposed to be about anthropomorphic creatures, and War Elephants... But don't worry, I also made up races that were like this too.
- Their power is interesting but too much extreme and powerful. Basically, whatever the special power is, the player enters the board, pounds the others, and enter decline. It would always be the same, with barely any change in strategy.
- Some powers would become useless, like Commando or Were-.

Compare with the Flames from SWU that can conquer regions as they were empty but under certain conditions.

I would recommend you to change the title of the race, and to only give them the power to conquer two regions with only one race token. I imagines this one but this is far from convincing me :

Harpies (4 ? 5 ?) : when it is your turn, you can conquer any region you want with only 1 race token but those regions conquered this way have to be abandonned at the end of your turn.

They would then be a good race to wipe out good defenses, but one shouldn't abuse of this power, because it would be too few points in the process. Actually, they're not that bad ! But there should be a restriction like only two regions per turn.

I think it'd be true that LOTS of things would be broken if you could combine two powers.

I think it's interesting, but a bit underpowered. You'd only roll the reinforcement die if you're taking out a territory with less than the required number of troops. You don't normally do this THAT often (due to the 50/50 chance, it's best to use sparingly). You'd have to change your attack plan to force yourself to use the reinforcement die. And many times, it might still be impossible. Other times, it might just be a sub-optimal strategy.

I also think Wraiths are a bit duplicative of Goblins. Goblins require one less token than normal to defeat in-decline races. Given that the vast majority of times in SW, there is only one in-decline token on a region, it's a one-conquest flying commando flying goblin but then after that, it does nothing. It doesn't even give you immunity like a dragon would. And you'd be required to go someplace on the map that might not be particularly good for strategy, placing a single token that would be easy fodder for someone else to pick off.

Maybe lucky could be...
LUCKY (4)
At the end of your turn, roll the reinforcement die. Either add 1 or double the results, haven't decided, and take that many victory coins.
This is to alchemist as berserk is to commando and pygmies are to elves.

Maybe lucky could be...
LUCKY (4)
At the end of your turn, roll the reinforcement die. Either add 1 or double the results, haven't decided, and take that many victory coins.
This is to alchemist as berserk is to commando and pygmies are to elves.

That's funny, a guy on the French forum had a similar idea ! It was "Roll the die twice and get as many VPs as the result" which is the same for Alchimist as Berseck is for Commando. I had the idea of Gambling (5) : when a player uses the die for a last conquest, toss it right after. If you get the same or above, he/she has to pay you a VP right away.

I think this is better, but I'm still not sure how fun it would be. Try it out and report what people thought.

The problem I see is the low number of dice rolls. It's not really comparable with Berserk because with Berserk you will likely get in a LOT of dice rolls before you go into decline, thus averaging think out a bit. It has a random element, but you figure out how to use that random element in your strategy ("Dang, a zero. Okay, conquer this empty region. Woo hoo, a 3! Okay, that will go towards this big stack of guys.") It still leaves the player with the responsibility of figuring out how to use that random element as part of a strategy.

With the Lucky power, it will really live up to its name and just be pure luck. This is especially true since the number of rolls will be small. Normally, without doubling the avg roll would be a 1 (0+0+0+1+2+3 / 6). With doubling, it'd be 2. So you could get really lucky and use it, say, three times and get 9 vps, thus making it 2 vps better than wealthy. Or you could get unlucky and 0 vps. With doubling, that'd be 18 vps or 0 vps.

I think this is fine if you're playing with players who like a larger random factor in their games. But generally, that's not how SW works. It tends to minimize luck and choose strategy more often. This is one of the big things that drew me to it as one of the first board games I got into, after long ago having the frustration of the heavily luck-based Risk.

I think this is better, but I'm still not sure how fun it would be. Try it out and report what people thought.

The problem I see is the low number of dice rolls. It's not really comparable with Berserk because with Berserk you will likely get in a LOT of dice rolls before you go into decline, thus averaging think out a bit. It has a random element, but you figure out how to use that random element in your strategy ("Dang, a zero. Okay, conquer this empty region. Woo hoo, a 3! Okay, that will go towards this big stack of guys.") It still leaves the player with the responsibility of figuring out how to use that random element as part of a strategy.

With the Lucky power, it will really live up to its name and just be pure luck. This is especially true since the number of rolls will be small. Normally, without doubling the avg roll would be a 1 (0+0+0+1+2+3 / 6). With doubling, it'd be 2. So you could get really lucky and use it, say, three times and get 9 vps, thus making it 2 vps better than wealthy. Or you could get unlucky and 0 vps. With doubling, that'd be 18 vps or 0 vps.

I think this is fine if you're playing with players who like a larger random factor in their games. But generally, that's not how SW works. It tends to minimize luck and choose strategy more often. This is one of the big things that drew me to it as one of the first board games I got into, after long ago having the frustration of the heavily luck-based Risk.

Just one posters opinion, though!

Good point, but it's still a good idea, in my opinion ^^ Take the Pigmies, in a 2 or 3 player match, they're going to lose, what ? 2 to 4 regions ? So as many roll dice ech turn of players. Until they go into decline, that wouldn't allow them to have isolated lucky or unlucky roll dice smoothed down. Some turns, they will even lose only one region and get a 0 ! So it depends on the race (Lucky Ghouls would be risky, whereas Lucky Elves wouldn't) and the player's profile. Some would skip a Lucky race and some wouldn't ^^

This is true about the pygmies, however, the pygmies' power isn't as swingy as the lucky one. Pygmies will - on average - break even on race tokens when using their power. So on average, they're elves. So on average, their power isn't going to help them win that many more regions - it just tends to fend off decline longer. You still have to use those tokens in a strategic manner (as you do with elves) in order to benefit from it.

On the other hand, Lucky directly awarding victory tokens is a bit randomly swingy. You don't have to do anything to conquer the regions at all. You just get them or you don't.

Now you may compare it to something like alchemist which gives you a guaranteed +2 every turn. The thing is it offsets that with a guaranteed "only 4 units". This is equivalent to Commando, one of the strongest abilities in the game.

So the problem would be assigning the unit value to the Lucky power. Give it a 4 and you're assuming it will do as well as those other two powers. Give it more or less and you're assuming it will do better or worse. But really, it'll be random with such a low sample rate that it can't fairly be balanced on unit value.

Like I said, just my opinion. I prefer less randomness than this. Other people may not!

Edit: Oh, and another observation from the games I've played. Pygmies' ability fits into other players' strategies as well. It makes them less likely to attack you because of the consequences. Lucky wouldn't really integrate into anyone else's strategy, since it's just randomness.

I really thought the idea of Frogmen leaping around the board was awesome. So I decided to do a graphic update of them.

Rule-book formulation (by Pierre 113):
On each conquest, Frogmen may treat any single one adjacent region (including an ocean or a lake region), that is containing no more than a single race token, as if they were already occupying that region for the purpose of determining which adjacent region they can conquer.

Owlbears
I felt like Small world lacked a strong but limited in number race... and who doesn't love the idea of peaceloving Owlbears. I've since been made aware that Small world unground have Ogres which have the same power but actually come in greater numbers.

Rule-book formulation):
Your Owlbears may conquer any region at a cost of 1 less token than normal. A minimum of 1 Owlbear token is still required.

I really thought the idea of Frogmen leaping around the board was awesome. So I decided to do a graphic update of them.

Rule-book formulation (by Pierre 113):
On each conquest, Frogmen may treat any single one adjacent region (including an ocean or a lake region), that is containing no more than a single race token, as if they were already occupying that region for the purpose of determining which adjacent region they can conquer.

Owlbears
I felt like Small world lacked a strong but limited in number race... and who doesn't love the idea of peaceloving Owlbears. I've since been made aware that Small world unground have Ogres which have the same power but actually come in greater numbers.

Rule-book formulation):
Your Owlbears may conquer any region at a cost of 1 less token than normal. A minimum of 1 Owlbear token is still required.

If hope you like them. Please leave a message if you have any comments or your experiences playing with them.

All the best
- Morten

The Graphics are great but Owlbears are a lot underpowered, Ogres from Small World Underground are exactly the same and they are 5, and Commando is a 4 which is normal because a power that is the same as a race grants one less token.

As for Frogmen, the idea is very funny but Flying would make their power completely useless.

True about flying with the Frogmen, but with the randomization in Small world it shoudn't be that big of a problem.

With the Owlbears I wern't aware of the Ogres when I made them (I don't have Small world underground). Raising the amount of Owlbears would really solve it, but perhaps adding a second ability, such as "when in decline, leave all tokens and not just one". Another option would be to make them require two less tokens conquering new regions.

True about flying with the Frogmen, but with the randomization in Small world it shoudn't be that big of a problem.

With the Owlbears I wern't aware of the Ogres when I made them (I don't have Small world underground). Raising the amount of Owlbears would really solve it, but perhaps adding a second ability, such as "when in decline, leave all tokens and not just one". Another option would be to make them require two less tokens conquering new regions.

Any suggestions to balance them out are welcome.

Yes, but my motto is that I don't really like ideas that make even a single already existing race or power useless... Well, that's my opinion I guess there is a way to balance them. I'll come up with an idea later

Also, for the Owlbears, and don't like giving a race or power two totally different powers to a single idea, one alone can already be complex enough. And I don't really see the thematics about leaving all tokens in decline, and Ghouls can already do that.

Eventually, conquests at two less tokens than necessary would be WAY too unbalanced because basically they would spread to the maximum in one turn and then likely decline. No surprise, few changes... That doesn't exactly make one dream in Small World ^^ What's funny is that a race with a power or another can have a completely different strategy, something that would be hardly possible with such a special capacity. Compare with an idea I had :

Yetis (6) : you can conquer a Mountain with two less tokens than necessary. At least one Yeti is still required.

See ? I think at least their strength is scattered through regions and turns.

Of course, those are only my suggestions But anyway, I'm glad to have a new member with ideas and motivation ^^

Medusa's 6/11
Any player who looks the Medusa player in the eye must give the medusa 1 bonus coin, once per opponent per turn.

Or non meta:

Once per opponent per turn, the medusa may turn an adjacent active region into Stone. Place the stone marker into a Region and the controlling player not use the tokens within or score for that Region.

quite like this one. The race are literally receiving trade from other races. The more tokens upon a region, the more profit. Thematic and fully balanced.

UNDERTAKERS 7/11
The declined side of the UNDERTAKERS displays a gravestone rather than a racial token. Opponents may conquer gravestone Regions as if they were empty. However, this does not remove the gravestone from play and you may co-occupy the Regions scoring Victory Coins as usual.

A power of mutual benefit which adds a nice/different thought process into the game. opponents may conquer as if empty (saving 1 token) whilst allowing the undertaker player to maintain a region.

*If* players conquer as per usual then the 7 token baseline subverts the lack of power.

I usually dislike co-existing powers as it makes the game "messy" but the fact this race would have a unique declined state makes it colourful and easier to grasp. Will players sully your graves or take advantage of a native -1 token required.

THIEVING (4)
Place the Robber (from Catan!!) upon any non-immune Region and receive 1 bonus Coin from each Player whose Active Race is adjacent to your Robber. In addition, the Robber Region does not produce any Victory Coins throughout the turn.

thoughts: i quite like this one. The race are literally receiving trade from other races. The more tokens upon a region, the more profit. Thematic.

UNDERTAKERS 7/11
The declined side of the UNDERTAKERS displays a gravestone rather than a racial token. Opponents may conquer gravestone Regions as if they were empty. However, this does not remove the gravestone from play and you may co-occupy the Regions scoring Victory Coins as usual.

However, other players may choose to conquer these Regions as per usual.

Thoughts: a power of mutual benefit which adds a nice/different thought process into the game. opponents may conquer as if empty (saving 1 token) whilst allowing the undertaker player to maintain a region.

*If* players conquer as per usual then the 7 token baseline subverts the lack of power.

I usually dislike co-existing powers as it makes the game "messy" but the fact this race would have a unique declined state makes it colourful and easier to grasp. Will players sully your graves or take advantage of a native -1 token required.

WARSWORN 9/14
All empty regions are considered immune to this race.

Thoughts: short and simple, there doesn't seem to be enough high token, negative power races. These lot are quite literally sworn to war.

POWERS

STUBBORN (5)
You may only lose one region to conquest per turn.

DISEASED (5)
Any active Region adjacent to the diseased race must be abandoned the at the start of their respective turns (and before going in decline).

thoughts: in other words they are passively emptying adjacent active Regions.

THIEVING (4)
Place the Robber (from Catan!!) upon any non-immune Region and receive 1 bonus Coin from each Player whose Active Race is adjacent to your Robber. In addition, the Robber Region does not produce any Victory Coins throughout the turn.

Thoughts: of course i am bias but i much prefer this to the one from SW: underground iteration. Plus it is a homage to Catan!

Colossi : kinda unbalanced, even with a three. Does the power applies during the turn or only at the beginning of it ? Because it can be confusing. But actually, it's pretty good, just a little surpriseless, they're bound to finish with one token per region before declining.

Khajiit : not bad. Is it a kind of creature ? Where does it come from ?

Undertakers : I don't quite like the name (I prefer unique creatures, not just some occupation because you've already got men. Unless I am mistaken and it is a creature ?) but I like the concept. Just make it an 8. It's like Ratmen, players just decide if they treat your Undertakers as Ratmen or take advantage of their power, which means more VPs for everybody.

Warsworn : again, I wonder what you would draw for their tile. But I like the concept, kindof reminds me of my Gnomes that can't conquer regions with two or more active tokens in it.

Colossi : kinda unbalanced, even with a three. Does the power applies during the turn or only at the beginning of it ? Because it can be confusing. But actually, it's pretty good, just a little surpriseless, they're bound to finish with one token per region before declining.

Khajiit : not bad. Is it a kind of creature ? Where does it come from ?

Undertakers : I don't quite like the name (I prefer unique creatures, not just some occupation because you've already got men. Unless I am mistaken and it is a creature ?) but I like the concept. Just make it an 8. It's like Ratmen, players just decide if they treat your Undertakers as Ratmen or take advantage of their power, which means more VPs for everybody.

Warsworn : again, I wonder what you would draw for their tile. But I like the concept, kindof reminds me of my Gnomes that can't conquer regions with two or more active tokens in it.

Yeah colossi are a bit supriseless (i know what you mean) but i do think there power is balanced (somewhat) by their lack of defence as you mention. It was to be during the turn. I am not fully bouled over by this idea.

Khajiit are cat/tiger folk originating from the Elder Scrolls lore. In the game Skyrim you consistently see them trying to sell you stuff from their trade caravans parked outside of the main cities. The template version was just TRADERS and they fit the bill

And yes, i simply couldn't think of anything appropriate for the UNDERTAKER power considering that i wanted an inanimate object to be upon the declined side. My other idea was Sphinx's but i could more readily imagine UDNERTAKERS with a gothic vibe. Perhaps Goths!! Also I like your thoughts about making them an 8.

Warsworn would have imagery of frothing berserker warriors. The power idea in many ways could be an alternate to Barbarian.

Spooky (3) You may conquer a region occupied by an active race for 2 less tokens than usual. (A minimum of one is still required.) If you chose to conquer this way the defeated race suffers no loss in tokens. Elves are immune to this power. One does not simply spook an elf from his land.

Vendetta (5) Gain a 5 coin bonus at the end of your turn for every race (active or in-decline) you have completely removed from the board through conquests. Note, this does not mean all tokens are destroyed but simply removed from the board like the rule says.

Spooky (3) You may conquer a region occupied by an active race for 2 less tokens than usual. (A minimum of one is still required.) If you chose to conquer this way the defeated race suffers no loss in tokens. Elves are immune to this power. One does not simply spook an elf from his land.

Vendetta (5) Gain a 5 coin bonus at the end of your turn for every race (active or in-decline) you have completely removed from the board through conquests. Note, this does not mean all tokens are destroyed but simply removed from the board like the rule says.

I like Spooky ! Vendetta, on the other hand, is too extreme, it will be hardly usable.

Thanks! I can see where you're coming from on Vendetta, but I also think it would change the ways other players play because they would have to be careful not to leave a withering race too open for the Vendetta player to come and push them off the map or land the killing blow thus scoring his 5 coin bonus. And yeah it would be a special circumstance of a power.

Thanks! I can see where you're coming from on Vendetta, but I also think it would change the ways other players play because they would have to be careful not to leave a withering race too open for the Vendetta player to come and push them off the map or land the killing blow thus scoring his 5 coin bonus. And yeah it would be a special circumstance of a power.

I totally get your point But still, it will be achieved once every like 1.000 games. Even Dwarves will be hard to knock out while active, and your Vendetta race would be extremely lucky to have a very weakened declined race at its mercy. You can bet the following active race will be in the way. On a two-player match, I think it would be broken. With four or five players, maybe, but...

Dire Sloths - when you have played a round and resolved conquests, you may choose to put as many or as few Dire Sloths in decline as you see fit. You must do this before you redeploy.

power: Cohabit - you may occupy a region alongside someone else with a single race token already there. You may claim the victory point, but your opponent is reinforced by the presence of your token. Maximum of three cohabitations.

Not sure if this would cause a crazy imbalance, but what about a special power called HALF-BREED, where you add a second race card (randomly pulled from the unused deck) to your currently-combined race/power combo? The special Half-Breed power adds 3 (or 4 maybe) troops, but any additional benefits come from the added half-breed race. You would pick the race with the highest deployment as the token displayed/used. And, as long as they don't contradict, you'd gain both racial benefits from your hybrid.

I suppose Sorcerer Ghouls might be fairly unstoppable. But this could also be fun in the sense that the other players might need to team up to stop this new menace. Just a thought.*